120 Recent Literature. | January 



Pai^e 42S. A perfect albino, apparently of C. kolbcelli, was received 

 from the Alaskan coast bv Mr. Gruber of San Francisco, about 1S74. 



Page 44S. line 13. for 'file' read pile (that is, arro-\v). 



Page 4S6. I published the occurrence of the U. lomvia {arra) in San 

 Francisco Bay, in the Proc. Cal. Acad. Sc. V, 414. 1875. 



Page 502. Although the authors quote me in regard to color of bill, 

 they have omitted my notes on finding B. Jiyfioleucus breeding on Santa 

 Barbara Island in 1863, where its habits, as far as observed, were similar 

 to those of P. cilcuticns, quoted on p. 519. 



Page 519, line 20 from bottom, for 'd\ ing' re?.d rising. — ^J. G. Cooper. 



Stsjneger's Ornithological Explorations in Kamtschatka. — Among the 

 more in)pf)rtant ornithological works of the vear 1SS5. -D'"- Stejneger's 

 'Exploi ations in Kanitschatka'* easily takes a ver^- high rank, and, as re- 

 gards North American publications on this subject, marks an altogether 

 'new departure,' it being the fii-st work in which the classification and 

 nomenclature of the (still unpublished) A. O. U. 'Check-List' iss^■stemat- 

 ically recognized. On this point the author says: "The systematical 

 nomenclature will be found to deviate not inconsiderably from the one 

 usually adopted in the publications treating of the region in question. 

 The reason is a two-fold one. for in identifying \.'w^ birds I have been anx- 

 ious not to lump together nearly-related forms, representati\e species, 

 subspecies, local races, migrating-route races, or whichever thev are 

 termed, giving the separation the benefit of the doubt \vhene\'er there be 

 a doubt, it being mv scientific creed that this is the least harinful course. 

 In naming the tbrms thus identified I have strictly adhered to the rules 

 laid down by the 'American Ornithologists' Union.' For changes in 

 nomenclature of that origin I am, therefore, only partly i-esponsible, and 

 eventual critics should not charge against me 'the pleasure of bringing 

 forward' these changes, which are the nece;>sary i-esults of the consistent 

 application of the onlv sound principle upon which a scientific nomencla- 

 ture can be based. The systematical arrangement is that which I proposed 

 in 'Science Record,' 1884, p. 155, with a few modifications'" (p. 7). 



From this avowal of principles and methods the readei- is prepared for 

 innovations, both in respect to nomenclature and the status of species and 

 subspecies. Since many ornithologists are disposed to avow the anti- 

 thesis of Dr. Stejneger's 'creed' in respect to the separation of closely 

 allied forms, and to let the doiibt weigh in favor of non-separation — both 

 sides are obviously susceptible of argument — probably the ground -here 

 taken is too radical to meet vith general approval. The work before us 

 displays, however, a thoroughness of research, a critical sifting of records 

 and diagnoses, and detailed exactness of statement that stamps it as in 



* Results of Ornithological Explorations in the Commander Islands and Kamts- 

 chatka. By Leonhard Stejneger. With nine plates. Washington : Government 

 Printing Office, i88s.'=Bulletin No. 29 of the United States National Museum. Pub- 

 lished under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution. 8vo., pp. 382, pll. 8 and 

 map, and 7 cuts in text. 



